Profile details
About Sebastian Lawson
Sebastian is a global transactions partner with Freshfields. He advises on a mixture of M&A, capital raising and infrastructure projects.
He was the co-head of the the firm's CEE/CIS (Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States) group for 10 years.
He has spent the last 20 years working exclusively in the CEE/CIS region advising on a wide range of major cross-border transactions, as well as debt and equity offerings. Sebastian’s practice has spanned a wide variety of sectors, with a particular focus on energy, financial institutions and TMT.
Sebastian is currently on a 2-year secondment until May 2025 during which time he will be working exclusively on pro bono projects to provide legal support for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Sebastian speaks English, French, German, Romanian and Russian.
Recent work
- Representing CVC on the $4.4bn acquisition of AB InBev’s brewing operations in CEE.
- Advising National Bank of Greece on the €2.75bn sale of its 99.81 per cent stake in Finansbank to Qatar National Bank pursuant to the conditions of Greece’s EU bailout and various other corporate transactions in the banking sector.
- Advising Mid Europa Partners on the sale of leading Baltics mobile operator, Bité Finance International, to funds affiliated with Providence Equity Partners.
- Advising KCell, the largest mobile operator in Kazakhstan by market share, on their inaugural stock market listing on the London Stock Exchange (winner of Best IPO in CEE – EMEA Finance Awards 2013).
- Advising PPF Group, a Czech Republic investment group, on the financing to acquire a controlling stake in O2 Czech Republic (the largest Czech telecoms group) from Spain's Telefónica for a total cash consideration of €2.467bn.
Qualifications
Education
- College of Law, UK (CPE and LPC)
- Oxford University, UK (MA Hons)